Well, as I promised you, I’m here to tell you all about my top three favorite boy’s names. Last time, I told you all about Caroline Maria, Adriana Karen, and Isadora Amelia. (My tastes have since switched Adriana and Isadora’s middle names.) Now, I’m here to welcome you to James Daniel, Archer Leonard, and Harrison Michael.

My first favorite, and one that I think I’ll never grow out of, is James Daniel. Really, the only true meaning behind choosing this name is the fact that James and Daniel are my brothers. The only switch-up I made between my bro’s names and these is the nickname for James. My brother has always been Jim, Jimmy, or Jimbo. He’s never not Jimmy. So, I switched James Daniel’s nickname to Jamie. Why? Three reasons: One, so that when little James and namesake James are together, they aren’t mixed up by calling “JIMMY!” and having two people answer “YES?”. The next is that I have a female cousin named Jamie that I’d like to honor, and, to be honest, I really detest unisex names on girls with a passion. So, I figured this killed the proverbial two birds with the proverbial stone. Finally: I just like Jamie more than Jimmy.

Next on the agenda is Archer Leonard. Ever since hearing of Amy Poehler’s baby Archibald, I started thinking: “I love Archie as a nickname — It’s absolutely stinking adorable, but I really don’t like the -bald in the name.” So what’s a girl to do? Find a substitute, of course! Now, I’d heard of Archer before, but being the absentminded person I am, that name was completely out of my head when I was thinking of Arch- names. So I went onto babynames *DOT* com, looked up names beginning with Arch-, and found: Arch, Archer, Archibald, Archie, and Archwood. I eliminated all I found very bad, and was left with Archer! Leonard is my mother’s father’s name, and he’s very near and dear to me, so I wanted to honor him.

Last, but not least, is a name that was hiding in obscurity on my list for some time, but has now come to its peak in the #3 slot on my list: Harrison Michael. Harrison is a name I’ve loved ever since seeing the Robert Downey Jr. movie, Heart and Souls. I combine that with my love of Harry Potter, and get Harrison with the nickname Harry! Michael is Leonard’s middle name, my mother’s brother’s name, and my brother James’s middle name, so it figures that I’d want to use it in some combo of mine.

Oh, hi hello! *Deep breathes* Sorry, I was just hyperventilating. Know why? Because, seeing as you’re reading this, that means you somehow found your way to my blog! And this is very new to me, so bear with me. I’m figuring that a good opening post would just be a brief description of moi, followed by a short list of names I love and why I love them. Okay! Let’s get rolling!

Hi! I’m Mookie. The Mookster. Mookie the Cookie Monster! Mookie is me, me = Mookie. Alright, that’s enough. To tell you guys the truth, my real name is *goes all James Bond on you* Maria — Emily Maria. I’m just the kooky type of person who likes personas and such. To get on with the story, I’m a teenage girl very interested in onomastics — have been since I was in elementary school. I also enjoy novels, words, spelling, grammar, writing, and the arts. I am in no way a typical teen girl – Quite the opposite, actually. I’m a bit of an introvert that believes some of the best times of your life are spent alone, lying down on a bed, reading a book, or just relaxing. My idea of “perfect weather” is when a thunderstorm is raging, just as long as the power stays on. Despite being quite sensitive, I’m very assertive and opinionated. You bring up a controversial issue? You can surely bet I’ll be the one debating until the very end. With that in mind, I am a self oxy-moron. (Whenever I use that phrase, I always think of Billy Mays sitting next to a kid with a Dunce Cap on.) I am very easily entertained. People who view me in public may come off with the opinion that I’m not the brightest crayon in the box, but they might think differently if they could be inside my head. (Which wouldn’t be very pretty, believe you me.) I guess that should suffice for now — After all, I don’t want my first post to be a book in and of itself.

Now, onto the real reason we’re here: Names! I constantly change, remove, add, and revamp my name lists, but I’ll use the one in action at this moment: My Top Seven. I’ll share with you my top three from my top seven (sounds confusing, but whatever) and clue you in as to why I love them.

My girls’ leading contender is Caroline Maria. Caroline is a name I’ve loved ever since first hearing Neil Diamond’s song Sweet Caroline. I just love it! The nickname is Cara. You should be able to tell where Caroline got her middle name, if you paid attention to the introduction. Still no clue? Dammit, I thought my readers would be smarter than that! Duh, it’s my middle name, folks! Seriously, the brain activity these days…

Next up is Adriana Karen. Adriana is a variation of a name originally on my very first name lists: Adrienne. Inspired from America’s Next Top Model’s Cycle 1 winner, Adrianne Curry (with an ‘a’), Adrienne lasted a while before I found Adriana. Considering my Italian heritage, and the way Adriana sounds much more Italian than Adrienne, I had found a perfect fit which has lasted for some time now. But, in keeping with her original version, Adriana’s nickname is still Addie. Karen comes from a simple source: My mommy! Honestly, I need to honor my mom in these names — She needs to be honored more than she is.

Rounding out the top three for my girlies is Isadora Amelia. Isadora is a new find that I’ve become increasingly attached to: A lovely and uncommon alternative to the ever-popular Isabella, Isadora was found in one of my childhood’s favorite book series: A Series of Unfortunate Events. Isadora Quagmire, sister of fellow triplet siblings Duncan Quagmire and Quigley Quagmire, is one of the Baudelaire siblings’ only friends. Her recreational occupation is poetry: She specializes in couplets and once used them to lead the Baudelaires to rescue her and Duncan when they were kidnapped. She, in the book, seems to relate to my literature-related interests — Plus, I just love the name! Nickname for her is Izzy. Her middle name is a version of my first name, Emily, which originated from Aemilia, which Amelia is directly based off of.

I think I’ll stop there for now. I’ll let you in on the reasoning behind my top three boy’s names next time — Until then, ciao!